Acevedo Re-Brand & Case Study

Designing for yourself is probably one of the most tedious undertakings you will probably have in your creative career. After all, you are your own worst client. So when I had to rebrand myself for my final graduating portfolio review at Miami International University of Art & Design, I really had no idea which direction to go.

I did a bunch of research, looked at some of my favorite blogs, asked for advice and it turns out, I really like the end result.

LOGO / IDENTITY
A type-treatment based on the Houschka Pro typeface. I was looking for something iconic. My names initials are three A’s and I’ve tried to some how create a treatment with that, but in the end, it seemed a bit obvious and complicated. I decided to keep the icon elegant and simple.

COLOR
PMS 1665 yea, it’s orange.

COLLATERAL
The business card was probably my favorite focal point in the branding process. I knew I wanted to print these in letterpress. I’ve been wanting to get letterpressed business cards for quite some time. I did a bit of research, found great places like the good folks at BeastPieces.com but decided to go with an individual that does letterpress up in Providence, Dan Wood of DRWI Letterpress. He sent me a few samples of his work and I was sold instantly. I asked him to color the sides of the business cards the same PMS color chosen for the rest. Here are the specs:

Type: Business Cards
Sides: 1/1
Paper: Crane’s Lettra 600g cover
Ink: PMS 1665
Finish: Side Color PMS 1665

I kept the design clean with tons of whitespace (whitespace is your friend) and, yes, I spelled out my phone number. It actually reads really well! And when people see it, they do a double take. People tend to remember clever shenanigans.

The Letterhead was simple enough. I had to condense my two page resumé to one page with the help of my professor at AiMIU. Back in 2009 when I first edited my resumé, I found a few sites that helped in the process:

10 Tips to bullet proof your resume: [link]
How to write a masterpiece of a resume: [link]
How to knock the socks off a prospective: [link]
Free Resume Examples and Cover Letter Samples: [link]
Designer Resume tips: [link]
Designer Sample: [link]
A Real Designers Resume: [link]

WEB
The site has been a monster process. I’ve looked at literally hundreds of blogs and folios by designers, getting ideas and inspiration. My conclusion was, I wanted a site that wasn’t cluttered with links, images, ads etc. I wanted a portfolio style site/blog that everything was easy to find.

On the home page, I wanted large photos of my work, photography and articles. I think photos are visually more appealing than a bunch of type. And believe me, I love typography. Also, Twitter serves as a great way to get personal with people on your page. So my Twitter feed is large and in charge.   I had my bud from Australia, Dan Mui, code the site after I sent the intial wireframes, in wordpress. No templates for me, thank you. He does great work, and this is probably our fourth time working together on a web project.

All in all, I’m ecstatic about how the site turned out. Overall, the brand is cohesive and strong and I’m quite happy with it.

If you have any questions/comments, feel free to leave them below!

–
Angel A. Acevedo
[designer + super genius]

www.angelaacevedo.com
Follow me on twitter!